A recent paper released by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) has argued that gender inclusion should be a central part of climate policy. The study states that this goes beyond what it calls ‘softer’ areas, like encouraging more women to join climate negotiations. It also advocates for more women to be included in the design and use of technologies for climate mitigation and their transfer to various developing nations. The study tracks the recognition of gender issues in climate negotiations over the last two decades. Mentions of gender have increased over the last five years in these negotiations. However, references to gender and technology are still weak. An example of this is the lack of the recognition of gender in the draft text of the new international climate change treaty.

Stella Gama, one of the authors of the study, stated, “We are expecting women, who make up the highest population of farmers in least developed countries, to ensure [their fields] are managed according to practices such as climate-smart agriculture, but these interventions have been designed for men.”

The International Finance Corporation of the World Bank Group and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation have recently signed various financing agreements for the building of a 53 megawatt Cap des Biches power plant with the project developer ContourGlobal, the Senegalese government, and Senegal’s national electricity utility. The power plant is being built in hopes of addressing a growing demand for electricity in the African country. It is estimated that Senegal needs to generate approximately 130 megawatts to meet its current energy needs. The Cap des Biches project should be significant in helping to meet a five to eight percent annual growth in the demand for electricity.

IFC plans to provide a cross currency swap while OPIC will lend as much as $91 million to the project. ContourGlobal is a US-based leading power projects developer and will be designing, building, and operating the plant. The Cap des Biches is a modern, heavy fuel, oil fired thermal power plant and will allow for high efficiency levels and lower costs of power. This is all thanks to combined cycle technology.

Elizabeth Littlefield, the president and CEO of OPIC, stated about the project, “ContourGlobal and OPIC have a strong history of partnership underpinned by results, and Cap des Biches is a milestone project both for OPIC and our support to President Obama's Power Africa initiative. This is the first power sector transaction of any size for OPIC in Senegal and I look forward to its transformative effect on Senegal's infrastructure and economic growth. It's also an important step for OPIC's energy presence in West Africa, an exciting region with tremendous development opportunity.”

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) released a report yesterday ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris stating that climate change has caused droughts, floods, storms, and other disasters to rise significantly in frequency and severity over the last thirty years. This is causing damage to agricultural sectors in many developing countries and may start to put them at risk for growing food insecurity. The study analyzed the effect of climate change worldwide from 2003 to 2023 and concluded that the average number of disasters caused by natural hazards has nearly doubled since the 1980s. This has caused an estimated $1.5 trillion of economic damage.

The report shows that extreme weather related events regularly have a large impact on agriculture and severely hinder any attempts to eradicate hunger and poverty or to achieve sustainable development throughout developing countries. If measures are not taken to strengthen the agricultural sector’s resilience and increase investments for the purpose of boosting food security and productivity, the situation is likely to worsen.

The FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva stated, “This year alone, small-scale farmers, fisherfolk, pastoralists and foresters - from Myanmar to Guatemala and from Vanuatu to Malawi - have seen their livelihoods eroded or erased by cyclones, droughts, floods and earthquakes.” He continued to state that efforts to curb the catastrophic effects of climate change are essential.

Foreign companies have recently been enlisted to install an emergency diesel power plant in the Seke district of Zimbabwe. This is an attempt by the Zimbabwean government to solve the power shortage problem that is running rampant throughout the country. The emergency plant will hopefully provide up to 200 megawatts to the national grid. It will be installed at the Dema sub-station and is on track to be completed by February of next year.

Three potential bidders have submitted proposals this week while the State Procurement Board has been notified of the development.

Recent data on refuse and urban population growth has revealed that energy that is generated from garbage could work to power up to 40 million homes in Africa by the year 2025. Researchers investigated Africa’s urban solid waste from incineration and methane produced from various landfills and measured their total energy potential. The journal, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, recently published the study last month.

Fabio Monforti-Ferrario, the author of the study, stated, "Our analysis shows that waste, and in particular municipal solid waste, is a renewable energy resource that could provide a meaningful share of both gross energy consumption and electricity on the African continent."

The study shows that over 62.5 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity could have been produced by garbage from urban areas in 2012 if the garbage had been used in waste-powered plants. Doing this could increase 122.2 TWh in 2025 as these plants become more efficiently run and more common throughout the region.